Best of Friends
by Spooky Spice
Summary: Monica’s very best friend tells his tale.
1. I am Bear

Title: The Best of Friends  
  
Author: Spooky Spice  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Category: Humor/Romance  
  
Summery: Monica's very best friend tells his tale.  
  
Spoilers: Do we really have to keep doing this?? "This Is Not Happening", all s9 eps up to "Audrey Pauley"-oh, and I rewrote "AP." Just a little bit.  
  
Disclaimer: The X-Files gang belongs to CC, I'm just playin' around. However, all other characters belong to me. The song "The Best of Friends" is from the Disney movie The Fox and The Hound. All credits to.whoever wrote it. LOL!  
  
Feedback: You can make it my X-Mas present! spookyspice24@yahoo.com  
  
Author's Notes: This came to me while I was sitting in the van on my weekly trip to Wal-Mart. Two freshmen in the back were discussing a book series (I forget the name) and one of them said "I'm so happy I have someone to talk about this with!" And that got me thinking...  
  
Dedication: To my very best friend, Hibbies. We met in a toy store in Williamsburg, VA and he has been my best friend ever since.  
  
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When you're the best of friends/ Having so much fun together/ You're not even aware, / you're such a funny pair/ You're the best of friends  
  
Life's a happy game/ You could clown around forever/ Neither one of you sees, your natural boundaries/ Life's one happy game  
  
If only the world wouldn't get in the way/ If only people would just let you play/ They say you're both being fools/ You're breaking all the rules/ They can't understand your magic wonderland  
  
When you're the best of friends/ Sharing all that you discover/ When that moment has passed, will that friendship last?/ Who can say if there's a way?/ Oh I hope . . . I hope it never ends/ 'Cause you're the best of friends  
  
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I've come a long way from being clutched at by tiny fingers, sucked on by a toothless mouth. I've survived food spills, sickness, broken hearts, nightmares, abductions by larger animals, birthdays, holidays, trips to Grandma's house, tea parties, amputation and surgery without anesthesia. I was at one time soft and fluffy, but now I'm worn. Luckily, the eye I'd been missing for a couple of months has been sewn back on.  
  
I am a stuffed animal and my name is Mr. Bear. How do you do?  
  
I've been with Monnie since her mama and papa adopted her from Texas. Her papa bought me for her. "All girls need a bear," he told me. I was more than up for the job. I've watched her grow from a tiny baby to the awkward teenager, to the strong, confident woman she is today. No one knows Monnie like I do.  
  
Monnie's taken me everywhere with her. To school, the zoo, more sleepovers than I care to remember, college and all of her living arrangements afterward. I've never been shoved into a box or a trunk because Monnie likes me to stay with her at all times. I'm her very best friend. She told me that.  
  
Oh, she's had other human friends: girls and boys from school and work. But no one knows her like I do. I was the first to know she had a crush on Brian in the 6th grade. I was the first to know of her plan of revenge on Mary Merona when Mary had dumped ice cream on Monnie's lap in front of the whole class, and I was the one to talk her out of it. I know the details of her first kiss, the excitement of her acceptance into college and then the FBI Academy. I know of her heartbreak when Greg turned out to be not "the one." She told me of her attraction to her boss, Brad, and I know the details of THAT relationship. I honestly thought that they were going to become something.  
  
Then she met John. And things changed.  
  
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More chapters to come! After feedback, of course. Heehee. 


	2. Where Is My Monnie?

Disclaimer: see pt 1  
  
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As she was packing to go to New York, she explained to me what she was expecting.  
  
"This little boy, Luke, disappeared," she told me. "He'd been riding his bike and then vanished. They think this might be cultist work..but I don't think so, Bear. Something tells me it's something else entirely." I told her to trust her instincts. "I will," she said and put me into her carryon.  
  
I was left in her hotel room for the duration of the trip. It saddened me, the first time she stopped carrying me around with her. I know that when a child grows up, she'll stop carrying her toys with her, but it still hurts. I'm happy I get to live on her bed still.  
  
During this case, Monnie changed. She'd come back from searching, shoulders hunched, withdrawn and sad. Where was my smiling, happy, bouncy Monnie? Who was this person who holds me at night and cries into my fur?  
  
"It's so horrible," she sobbed. "Why would anyone take a little boy? Oh, God, Bear..His poor parents. John is..I don't think he'll get through this if I don't find Luke."  
  
You'll find him, I told her confidently. You'll find him and he'll be fine. He's probably somewhere, waiting to go home to his Bear.  
  
She laughs a little and falls asleep.  
  
Unfortunately, what I'd said to make her feel better didn't come true. Luke was dead, his parents divorced, and Monnie was devastated. I was crushed against her while she cried after she told John the news. I tried to comfort her, but she was having none of it. They buried Luke soon after.  
  
Then she found out the truth about Brad. He was apparently buying someone off. Monnie didn't want any part of that, so we headed to New Orleans. 


	3. We're in the XFiles Now!

Thanks for all the feedback, y'all! Here's Chap 3!  
  
Disclaimer in pt1.  
  
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Five years after we moved to Louisiana, Monnie gets a call out of the blue from John. Well, not so out of the blue-Monnie and John have been in touch for years and are very close friends now.  
  
Let me also say that my Monnie has fallen hopelessly in love with him and has admitted it on several occasions. (Only to me, of course.) Whether he feels the same has been unclear.  
  
Anyway, he calls her with a case. John had been assigned to a part of the FBI called the X-Files. One of the original agents-one Fox Mulder (Fox. [snicker] Poor guy.)-had disappeared and the team had been unable to find him so far. He'd suspected cultists (I guess all other explanations had run dry), so he called Monnie for her expertise.  
  
"The X-Files, Bear! It's the perfect assignment for me! It's like, my dream job." Once again, we were packing.  
  
And you're not at all excited about seeing your John again?  
  
"He's not *my* John," she insisted. But she was blushing.  
  
He's never been interested in anyone since you two met.  
  
"I'm doing this as a favor to a friend and because I'm the best at what I do," she said defensively.  
  
Uh, huh.  
  
She sighed. "And *yes*, I do want to see him again, you happy?"  
  
I just smiled.  
  
So off we went. Once we arrived in Helena, Montana, John came to see Monnie in our room. He looked at me sitting on the bed.  
  
Hey, how's it goin'?  
  
Apparently, he didn't hear me. "Mon, how come you've got a stuffed animal on your bed?"  
  
She looked at me. I winked at her. "He's mine. So, what do we know about Agent Mulder's disappearance so far?"  
  
As they left to go meet the others, she looked at me again. I winked and she stuck her tongue out at me. You'd have to be 6 feet under not to feel the energy in this room.  
  
A few days and many a strange tale later, they found him. Dead. Poor Monnie. Also, poor Agent Scully. Pregnant and now without her partner. (Monnie thinks they were more than just partners, and I'm inclined to agree with her.) Back to New Orleans we went.  
  
Twice Monnie went back at John's asking. Once because she'd found a connection between a string of murders in N'Awlins and John's son's death (you can imagine how well THAT went over) and the second to stay. Agent Scully (hereafter known as Dana) and her baby were in trouble. Monnie took us to Democrat Hot Springs, Georgia where Dana gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who she named William. I didn't see him, but Monnie said he was the cutest thing ever.  
  
So after the whole giving-birth-on-the-run fiasco, you'd think our work was done. Nope! With the birth of William, and Agent Mulder on the run, Dana decided to take a job at the FBI Academy. That left John without a partner. So he chose Monnie and promptly assigned her to the X-Files. (Surprise, surprise.)  
  
No, I'm not bitter! A little jealous, maybe. She spends a LOT of time with him. I know it's because of her job, but still. I *do* go with her on their cases though!  
  
Your bear: never leave home without one!  
  
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One more chapter to go! 


	4. I Think He Saw This Time

All right! You've reached the end! Hope you've enjoyed it! Thanks for all the feedback, y'all!  
  
Disclaimer in pt 1  
  
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Monnie's hopelessly head over heels for this man. Hopelessly. She tells me the events of her day to me every night as she writes in her diary. It helps her remember.  
  
She tells me of the cases she's gone on and what happens. About how well she and John work together. She cried over the events of the mirror- universe case-how she had to pull the plug on him. Watching him die was the hardest thing she had to do. I cried with her.  
  
"I don't know how Dana does it. Mulder loves her, she loves him and he's a million miles away for all she knows. I love John, he doesn't know it and he's right here. I don't know which is harder."  
  
I don't think he's over Luke's death, I said.  
  
Monnie nodded. "He still blames himself."  
  
But it wasn't his fault.  
  
"I know," she sighed. "I think eventually he'll come to terms with it."  
  
The weeks went by. John got lost in Mexico, there was that kid-who-was-a- bug thing, the attempts on Mulder's and William's lives..typical days at the office. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. Then came the car accident.  
  
It was a Friday night. Nothing was happening, but Monnie didn't come home when she usually does on slow weeks. I figured she stopped somewhere for a drink, presumably with John. (I wish she'd tell him already. The tension is getting to me.)  
  
But she didn't come home. For three days. Three days. I was worried out of my mind. When she *finally* got back, she had a nice cut on her forehead and looked a little too pale. John was helping her into the room.  
  
"I *can* walk on my own, John," she said, sounding amused.  
  
"Monica, can't I just do this, please?" he asked.  
  
She grinned at me, a grin he couldn't see. "Ok, fine.." she sighed out dramatically.  
  
John helped her sit on the bed. "You want me to run you a bath or something?" he asked. He sounded anxious for some reason.  
  
"Make me dinner?" she asked.  
  
"Ok." He headed to the kitchen.  
  
"I have boxed macaroni and cheese!" she called. She knows he's not that good of a cook.  
  
"You're funny, Monica."  
  
"I know." She looked at me. "What?"  
  
Well, *this* is an interesting turn of events.  
  
"And what do you mean by that?"  
  
"You talkin' to me?" John called.  
  
"No! I'm-I'm going to take a shower, ok?"  
  
"Ok."  
  
Monnie got up and shut the door. "Like he needs to hear us."  
  
He already thinks you're nuts, remember? She gives me a look. Now, where have you been for the past three days, young lady? I ask sternly.  
  
She sits back on the bed and pulls me in a hug. "Car accident," she whispers. "I was hit by a drunk driver. I almost died, Bear."  
  
Oh, Monnie..but you're ok, now. You're back with me.  
  
She takes me into the bathroom and I sit on the shelf while she takes a shower. Nice bruise, I comment while she's drying off.  
  
"Isn't it? All the pretty colors." She takes me back into her room and changes into pajamas. Tucked under her arm, we go into the kitchen.  
  
"Whatcha making?" Monnie asks softly.  
  
John turns and sees us. "Macaroni and cheese."  
  
Monnie grins. "Sounds good." She sets me on the table. I watch her get bowls out. John dishes out their dinner and gets drinks for both of them.  
  
He puts Monnie's drink in front of her, then notices me.  
  
"That's Mr. Bear," Monnie introduces me. "He's been with me since my parents adopted me."  
  
John nodded and sat down. "Luke had a bear, too. Named him Teddy. I kept him after the divorce."  
  
"You bought him for Luke?" Monnie said.  
  
John nodded again. "Yeah."  
  
Monnie smiled. "My dad bought him for me, too."  
  
John looked at her and they shared a moment. Oh, yeah. They were *both* over the moon.  
  
"This is really good, John," Monnie said.  
  
"Yeah, I'm good at following directions." They ate in silence.  
  
Afterward, Monnie took her painkiller designed to knock her out. John took her back to the bedroom and tucked us in.  
  
"You need anything else?" John asked quietly.  
  
"Yeah..stay with me?" She patted the space beside her. John looked a little reluctant. "Please, John?" she asked, using the voice she used to use when she begged cookies from her mama. "I don't want to be alone just yet."  
  
John nodded. He slid in beside her in boxers and a T-shirt. He noticed me under Monnie's arm.  
  
Monnie saw this. "Here," she said and tucked me under the blanket behind her.  
  
I knew from the silence that they were looking at each other. "Thank you, John," Monnie finally whispered.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For not letting anything happen to me. For not giving up on me."  
  
"I'd never give up on you, Monica. 'Coz you never gave up on me." He tucked her hair behind her ear. There was a pause, then John pulled Monnie into his arms. "Go to sleep," he murmured.  
  
"'Kay." And she drifted off.  
  
John stayed awake for a time, watching her. He kissed her forehead, then rested his chin on top of her head. Before he fell asleep, he saw me watching them.  
  
I winked at him in approval.  
  
And from the look he gave me, I think he saw this time.  
  
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The End 


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